Five Ways to Stay on Top of Changing Compliance Laws

1. Who are the “experts” regarding compliance?

National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS) is the only trade association dedicated to consumer reporting agencies (CRA) that exists to foster proper business practices, compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and equal employment opportunity as well as state and international consumer protection laws pertaining to the background screening profession. NAPBS provides educational programs aimed at empowering members to better serve their clients, while adhering to standards of excellence in the background screening profession.

Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is a global trade association with more than 275,000 members in over 160 countries. The main purpose of SHRM is to serve the needs of HR professionals and advance the professional practice of human resource management.

Professional in Human Resources Association (PIHRA) is devoted to the endless development of human resources though networking, learning and advocacy. PIHRA is the largest affiliate of SHRM with more than 4,000 induvial members representing 17 separate districts.

2. Who is enforcing compliance?

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)‘s main duties are to enforce federal law that makes it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the individual’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability, or genetic information.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) serves the purpose of preventing business practices that are anti-competitive, deceptive, or unfair to consumers; enhancing the informed consumer choice and public understanding of the competitive process, and accomplishing this without unduly burdening legitimate business activity. The FTC puts out its mission by investigating issues raised by reports from consumers, businesses, pre-merger notification filings, congressional inquiries, or the media.

3. What direction is compliance going in?

“Ban the Box” is a campaign by advocates for criminal offenders who wish to persuade employers to no longer ask applicants if they have a criminal record. The campaign takes its name from the check box that has historically appeared on most American job applications, “Have you ever been convicted of a crime?” Advocates hope that persuading employers to no longer ask applicants about former criminal convictions will give ex-offenders the change to display their job-related qualifications prior to a criminal background check being run.

4. How may your organization stay in compliance?

HR Auditing requires an objective view of the organizations procedures, policies, practices, and strategies to protect the company, create best practices, and identify areas of opportunity. The audit can be either comprehensive or specifically addressing one issue. There are essentially four areas to look at when constructing an audit: Compliance, Best Practices, Strategic, and Function Specific.

5. What should your organization do when compliance changes?

Various federal, state, local, trade associations, and city chambers of commerce have legal updates via newsletter or seminar to keep consumers and businesses abreast of laws affecting them. Subscribing to these online publications is just another tool your organization can use to stay in compliance and not be held liable for new regulations your organization was unaware of.